Al Jazeera staff killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists outside al-Shifa hospital.
Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside three colleagues in what appears to be a targeted Israeli attack, the director of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City has said.
Al-Sharif, 28, was killed on Sunday after a tent for journalists outside the main gate of the hospital was hit. The well-known Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent reportedly extensively from northern Gaza.
Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal were also among the victims.
In a statement announcing the killing of al-Sharif, Israel’s military accused the journalist of heading a Hamas cell and of “advancing rocket attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops.”
It alleged it possessed documents providing “unequivocal proof” of his involvement with the Palestinian group.
The Al Jazeera Media Network had recently denounced the Israeli military for what it called a “campaign of incitement” against its reporters in the Gaza Strip, including most notably al-Sharif.
In July, Israeli army spokesperson Avichai Adraee reshared a video on social media accusing al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas’s military wing – a claim that has been forcefully rejected as false.
Israel has routinely accused Palestinian journalists in Gaza of being members of Hamas since it launched its war on the enclave in October 2023 as part of what rights groups say is an effort to discredit their reporting on Israeli abuses.
The Israeli military has killed more than 200 reporters and media workers since its bombardment began, including several Al Jazeera journalists and their relatives.
The Committee to Protect Journalists last month said it was gravely concerned for al-Sharif’s safety and said he was a “targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign.”